Biography

Dr. Staub-French is a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science.  She is Director of the BIM TOPiCS Lab where she leads inter-disciplinary research focused on developing methods and tools to support the digital delivery of sustainable building construction projects through effective and collaborative use of building information modeling (BIM).  She has published over 100 papers in leading journals and conferences on BIM and related topics. Her lab has made significant contributions in developing BIM guidelines and best practices; collaborating with industry and government to advance technology transfer; and developing tools to support virtual design and digital delivery.

As the first Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in the Faculty of Applied Science, Dr. Staub-French is a strong leader and advocate in advancing EDI in engineering and leading the Faculty’s EDI initiatives. She received her BS in Civil Engineering from Santa Clara University and her MS and PhD from Stanford University.

Research Interests

Virtual Design and Construction (VDC), Building Information Modeling (BIM), collaboration and integrated project delivery, design and construction coordination, 4D (3D + time) visualization, interactive workspaces

Courses

CIVL 300 Construction Engineering and Management

CIVL 426 Virtual Design and Construction

CIVL 526 3D Modeling Cost Estimating and Construction Planning

CIVL 598A Advanced Building Information Modeling

Publications

• S. Merhrbod, Staub-French, S., and Tory, M., “BIM-Based Building Design Coordination: Processes, Bottlenecks, and Tools”, Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, In Press.
• P. A. Zadeh, Bhonde, D., Staub-French, S., and Goodland, H., “Owners’ Perceived Barriers to Adoption of IPD in Canada”, 2020.
• S. Mehrbod, Staub-French, S., Mahyar, N., and Tory, M., “Beyond The Clash: Investigating BIM-Based Building Design Coordination Issue Representation And Resolution”, Journal of Information Technology in Construction, vol. 24, pp. 33-57, 2019.
• P. A. Zadeh, Wei, L., Dee, R., Pottinger, R., and Staub-French, S., “BIM-CITYGML Data Integration for Modern Urban Challenges”, Journal of Information Technology in Construction, vol. 24, 2019.
• S. Mehrbod, Staub-French, S., Mahyar, N., and Tory, M., ““Characterization of Design Coordination Meeting Activities”, 98, pp. 195-213, 2019.
• D. Bhonde, Zadeh, P. A., and Staub-French, S., “Investigating the Use of Virtual Reality in Improving the Quality of Design BIM for Facility Management”, in 7th International Construction Conference Jointly with the Construction Research Congress, Laval (Greater Montreal), Canada, 2019.
• P. A. Zadeh, Goodland, H., Lam, A., Chudasma, S., and Staub-French, S., “Strategies for Collaborative Construction – Integrated Project Delivery Case Studies”, BC Housing’s Research Centre, 2019.
• P. A. Zadeh, Staub-French, S., Calderon, F., Chikhi, I., Poirier, E., Chudasma, S., and Huang, S., “Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) for Mass Timber Construction”, BIM TOPiCS Research Lab, 2018.
• S. Kim, Bhat, A., Poirier, E. A., and Staub-French, S., “Investigating Owner Requirements for BIM-Enabled Design Review”, in Construction Research Congress 2018, New Orleans, LA, 2018.
• H. Cavka, Poirier, E., and Staub-French, S., “Levels of BIM Compliance for Model Handover”, 23, pp. 243-258, 2018.
• S. Mehrbod, Staub-French, S., and Bai, W., “Analysis of Bottlenecks in BIM-based Building Design Coordination Process and Benchmarking State of the Art BIM Tools”, in Canadian Society for Civil Engineering Annual Conference, Vancouver, BC, 2017.
• E. Poirier, Forgues, D., and Staub-French, S., “BIM In Canadian Research and Education”, in 11th BIM Academic Symposium & Job Task Analysis Review, Boston, MA, 2017.
• K. Soo, Poirier, E., and Staub-French, S., “Developing a BIM Model for FM from Handover Documentation; A Case Study”, in Canadian Society for Civil Engineering Annual Conference, Vancouver, BC, 2017.
• H. Cavka, Staub-French, S., and Poirier, E., “Developing owner information requirements for BIM-enabled project delivery and asset management”, Automation in Construction, vol. 83, pp. 169–183, 2017.
• E. Poirier, Staub-French, S., and Forgues, D., “The Impact of BIM on Collaboration: An Action-Cognition Perspective”, Building Research and Information, vol. 45, no. 6, 2017.
• P. A. Zadeh, Wang, G., Cavka, H. B., Staub-French, S., and Pottinger, R., “Information quality assessment for facility management”, Advanced Engineering Informatics, vol. 33, pp. 181–205, 2017.
• Y. Bai, Zadeh, P. A., Staub-French, S., and Pottinger, R., “Integrating GIS and BIM for Community-Scale Energy Modeling”, in International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure – Sustainable Cities for an Uncertain World, New York City, NY, 2017.
• A. Bhat, Poirier, E., and Staub-French, S., “Investigating the Potential of BIM to Address Project Delivery Issues”, in Canadian Society for Civil Engineering Annual Conference, Vancouver, BC, 2017.
• P. A. Zadeh, Staub-French, S., Grover, R., Froese, T., Bai, Y., Fallahi, A., Kim, S., Thontepu, S. K., and Kasbar, M., “Applications of Building Information Modeling for High Performance Homes”, Int. Conf. on Sustainable Housing Planning, Management, and Usability. Green Lines Institute, Barcelos, Portugal, 2016.
• S. Kim, Zadeh, P. A., Staub-French, S., Froese, T., and Cavka, B. T., “Assessment of the Impact of Window Size, Position and Orientation on Building Energy Load Using BIM ”, in International Conference on Sustainable Design, Engineering and Construction, Tempe, AZ, 2016.
• P. A. Zadeh, Cavka, H. B., and Staub-French, S., “BIM Information Quality Analysis for Space Management”, in 16th International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering, Osaka, Japan, 2016.
• E. Poirier, Forgues, D., and Staub-French, S., “Collaboration through innovation: implications for expertise in the AEC sector”, Construction management and economics, vol. 34, pp. 769–789, 2016.
• T. S. Kalyan, Zadeh, P. A., Staub-French, S., and Froese, T. M., “Construction Quality Assessment using 3D as-built Models Generated with Project Tango”, in International Conference on Sustainable Design, Engineering and Construction, Tempe, AZ, 2016.
• E. Poirier, Moudgil, M., Fallahi, A., Staub-French, S., and Tannert, T., “Design and Construction of a 53 meter Tall Timber Building at the University of British Columbia”, in Proceedings of the World Conference on Timber Engineering, Vienna, Austria, 2016.
• A. Fallahi, Poirier, E., Staub-French, S., Glatt, J., and Sills, N., “Designing for Pre-Fabrication and Assembly in the Construction of UBC’s Tall Wood Building”, in Modular and Offsite Construction [MOC] Summit, Edmonton, AB, 2016.
• M. Nepal and Staub-French, S., “Knowledge Engineering to Support Knowledge-Intensive Construction Management Tasks in BIM”, Journal of Information Technology in Construction, vol. 21, no. 13-38, 2016.
• K. Hu, Staub-French, S., Tory, M., and Nepal, M., “VisArchive: a time and relevance based visual interface for searching, browsing, and exploring project archives”, Visualization in Engineering, vol. 4, p. 6, 2016.
• B. Cavka, Staub-French, S., and Tory, M., “Characterizing Bottlenecks in Design Coordination Meetings”, in 11th ConstructionSpecialty Conference, Vancouver, BC, 2015.
• H. Cavka, Staub-French, S., and Pottinger, R., “Evaluating the alignment of organizational and project contexts for BIM adoption: a case study of a large owner organization”, Buildings, vol. 5, pp. 1265–1300, 2015.
• B. Cavka, Staub-French, S., and Pottinger, R., “Evaluation of the Organisational Context and Requirements for Leveraging BIM to support Handover and Operations”, in 11th Construction Specialty Conference, Vancouver, BC, 2015.
• S. Mehrbod, Staub-French, S., Tory, M., and Mahyar, N., “A Framework for Classifying BIM Design Coordination Issues”, in 11th Construction Specialty Conference, Vancouver, BC, 2015.
• E. Poirier, Staub-French, S., and Forgues, D., “Investigating Model Evolution in a Collaborative BIM Environment”, in 11th Construction Specialty Conference, Vancouver, BC, 2015.
• E. Poirier, Staub-French, S., and Forgues, D., “Dimensions of Interoperability in the AEC Industry”, in Construction Research Congress, Atlanta, Georgia, 2014.
• E. Poirier, Forgues, D., and Staub-French, S., “Informing Action in Building Information Modeling (BIM)-based Multi-Disciplinary Collaboration”, in COMMON’14 (multimodal communication and instrumented collaboration), Liège, Wallonia, Belgium, 2014.
• E. Poirier, Staub-French, S., and Forgues, D., “BIM adoption and implementation within a mechanical contracting firm”, in Canadian Society of Civil Engineers Annual Conference, Montreal, 2013.
• H. Cavka and Staub-French, S., “Case Study of BIM Handover to Support Building Operations”, in Canadian Society of Civil Engineers Annual Conference, Montreal, 2013.
• M. Tory, Staub-French, S., Huang, D., Chang, Y. L., Swindells, C., and Pottinger, R., “Comparative Visualization of Construction Schedules”, Automation in Construction, vol. 29, pp. 68-82, 2013.
• N. Tran, Russell, A., and Staub-French, S., “Construction Strategy Formulation and Assessment”, in the Seventh International Structural Engineering and Construction Conference, Honolulu, 2013.
• J. Montgomery, Nesbit, S., Ellis, N., Froese, T., Staub-French, S., and Cruickshank, H., “Filling the Gap in Engineering Education for Sustainability: Developing a Cohort-based Masters Degree in Engineering Leadership for Sustainability”, 6th International Conference of Engineering Education for Sustainable Development. University of Cambridge, 2013.
• N. Tran, Russell, A., and Staub-French, S., “A Framework for Construction Strategy Formulation”, in Canadian Society of Civil Engineers Annual Conference, Montreal, 2013.
• S. Mehrbod, Staub-French, S., and Tory, M., “Interactions with BIM Tools in Design Coordination Meetings”, in Canadian Society of Civil Engineers Annual Conference, Montreal, 2013.
• M. Nepal, Staub-French, S., Pottinger, R., and Zhang, J., “Ontology-based feature modeling for construction knowledge extraction from a Building Information Model”, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, 2013.
• B. P. Langroodi and Staub-French, S., “Change Management with Building Information Models: A Case Study”, in Construction Research Congress, West Lafayette, Indiana, 2012.
• N. Tran, Russell, A. D., and Staub-French, S., “A framework for construction strategy formulation and visualization”, in Construction Research Congress, West Lafayette, Indiana USA, 2012.
• M. Nepal, Staub-French, S., and Pottinger, R., “Providing Query Support to Leverage BIM for Construction”, in Construction Research Congress, West Lafayette, Indiana USA, 2012.
• D. Forgues, Iordanova, I., Valdivesio, F., and Staub-French, S., “Rethinking the Cost Estimating Process through 5D BIM: A Case Study”, in Construction Research Congress, West Lafayette, Indiana USA, 2012.
• M. Nepal, Staub-French, S., Pottinger, R., and Webster, A., “Towards Automated Extraction and Querying Of Construction-Specific Design Features from a Building Information Model (BIM)”, Advanced Engineering Informatics, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 904-923, 2012.
• M. Lawrence, Pottinger, R., and Staub-French, S., “Data Coordination: Supporting Contingent Updates”, in The International Conference on Very Large Databases (VLDB), Seattle, Wa. USA, 2011.
• J. Zhang, Webster, A., Lawrence, M., Nepal, M., Pottinger, R., Staub-French, S., and Tory, M., “Improving the Usability of Standard Schemas”, Information Systems, no. 36, 2011.
• D. Forgues, Staub-French, S., and Farah, M., “Teaching Building Design and Construction Engineering. Are we ready for the paradigm shift?”, in Canadian Engineering Education Association Second Annual Conference, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, 2011.
• M. Lawrence, Pottinger, R., and Staub-French, S., “Coordination of Data in Heterogeneous Domains”, in the 2nd International Workshop on New Trends in Information Integration (co-located with the 26th International Conference on Data Engineering), Long Beach, California USA, 2010.
• M. Nepal, Zhang, J., Webster, A., Staub-French, S., Pottinger, R., and Lawrence, M., “Querying IFC-based Building Information Models to Support Construction Management Functions”, in Construction Research Congress, Seattle, Washington, 2009.
• D. Huang, Tory, M., Staub-French, S., and Pottinger, R., “Visualization Techniques for Schedule Comparison”, Computer Graphics Forum, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 951-958, 2009.
• A. D. Russell, Staub-French, S., Tran, N., and Wong, W., “Visualizing High-rise Building Construction Strategies Using Linear Scheduling and 4D CAD”, Automation in Construction, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 219-236, 2009.
• M. Tory, Staub-French, S., Po, B., and Wu, F., “Artifact-Mediated Coordination in Building Design”, Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 311-351, 2008.
• A. D. Russell, Staub-French, S., and Tran, N., “Creating a Visualization Environment for Assessing Construction Strategies”, in Canadian Society of Civil Engineering Annual Conference, Quebec City, 2008.
• M. P. Nepal, Staub-French, S., Zhang, J., Lawrence, M., and Pottinger, R., “Deriving construction features from an IFC model”, in Canadian Society of Civil Engineering Annual Conference, Quebec City, 2008.
• S. Staub-French, Russell, A. D., and Tran, N., “Linear Scheduling and 4D Visualization”, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 192-205, 2008.
• M. Tory and Staub-French, S., “Qualitative analysis of visualization: a building design field study”, in 2008 Workshop on BEyond time and errors: novel evaLuation methods for Information Visualization, Workshop at ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) 2008, Florence, Italy, 2008.
• S. Staub-French and Khanzode, A., “3D/4D Modeling for Design and Construction Coordination: Issues and Lessons Learned”, Journal of Information Technology for Construction, vol. 12, pp. 381-407, 2007.
• N. Tran, Russell, A. D., and Staub-French, S., “4D CAD via Linear Planning and 3D CAD”, in Construction Research Congress, Grand Bahama Island, 2007.
• K. Zhang, Russell, A. D., and Staub-French, S., “Knowledge Management as it Pertains to Construction Quality Management”, in CSCE 1st International Construction Specialty Conference, Calgary, AB, 2006.
• M. G. Fard, Staub-French, S., Po, B., and Tory, M., “Requirements for a mobile interactive workspace to support design development and coordination”, in ICCCBE-XI: 11th Int’l Conf. on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering, Montreal, Quebec, 2006.
• A. R. Tabesh and Staub-French, S., “Case Study of Constructability Reasoning in MEP Coordination”, in Construction Research Congress 2005: Broadening Perspectives, San Diego, California, 2005.
• S. Staub-French, “Feature-based Product Models for Building Construction”, in the 10th International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering (ICCCBE-X), Weimar, Germany, 2004.
• S. Staub-French and Froese, T., “A Conceptual Framework for Representing Project Model Interfaces”, in the CSCE 5th Construction Specialty Conference, New Brunswick, Canada, 2003.
• S. Staub-French, “Providing Cost and Constructability Feedback to Designers”, in Construction Research Congress: Wind of Change: Integration and Innovation, Honolulu, Hawaii, 2003.
• T. Froese and Staub-French, S., “A Unified Approach to Project Management”, in the 4th Joint Symposium on Information Technology in Civil Engineering, Nashville, Tennessee, 2003.
• S. Staub-French and Fischer, M., “Generating and Maintaining Activity-based Cost Estimates with Feature-Based Product Models”, in 19th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction, Washington D.C., 2002.
• S. Staub-French and Fischer, M., “Formalisms and Mechanisms Needed to Maintain Cost Estimates based on an IFC Product Model”, in 8th International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering (ICCCBE-VIII), Stanford University, 2000.
• S. Staub-French and Fischer, M., “The Practical Needs of Integrating Scope, Cost, and Time”, in the 8th International Conference on Durability of Building Materials and Components, CIB W78 Workshop on Information Technology in Construction, Vancouver, BC, 1999.
• B. Akinci, Staub-French, S., and Fischer, M., “Productivity and Cost Analysis Based on a 4D Model”, IT Support for Construction Process Reengineering. CIB, Cairns, Australia, pp. 23-32, 1997.